Pilgrim Geese

Pilgrim Geese are the only American goose breed that is auto-sexing. You can tell the male from the female goslings the moment they hatch. Male goslings are yellow with a grayish hue while females have darker down and skin. As they mature, males become increasingly white with blue eyes and females become gray with brown eyes.

Pilgrim Geese were developed by Oscar Grow. His wife named them "Pilgrims" after the family relocated on a "pilgrimage" from Iowa to Missouri. They are a very friendly breed of geese. Ours never hiss unless they have a nest or goslings to protect. If their eggs are collected for sale or incubation rather than allowing them to set them all, they will usually lay around 35-40 eggs a year.

Goose Breed Info:
Breed Purpose:

Comb:

Broodiness: Good

Climate Tolerance:

General Egg Info:
Egg Productivity: Low

Egg Size: Very large

Egg Color: White

Breed Temperament:

Very docile breed.

Breed Colors / Varieties:
Males are white with light grey mostly under the wings but
sometimes on the wings,back and tail.

Females are "wild-colour" type. Soft grey and light brown body and wings
with white speckles on face and neck.

Recent User Reviews

Cons - Like to beat up chickens, consume a lot, destroy grassy penned up areas, really territorial during breeding season

My pilgrim geese were really sweet and adorable at first, but once breeding season came along I had to get rid of them. Nearly killed some of my chickens.

Now that they have been sold to a place with no chickens and lots of space, I've heard they're really sweet and get along with everyone perfectly. So, if you don't have lots of space, don't get these birds! Probably won't try them out again, I prefer smaller poultry.

These are the sweetest geese I have had or met. Both the male and female are responding very well to verbal training. I am working with them on the words no, quiet, bedtime, and a few others. They took a bit to get idea of commands but once they understood, progress has been fast. They are healthy, alert and smart. I would put them at about the middle for goose breeds when it comes to noisy honking, but they are quite trainable so if you work with them getting them to be quieter over all is fairly easy. They do well with strangers if encouraged to behave and be calm and quiet. They are not mean and work well with my ducks but as with all goose breeds they need some watching and correcting as necessary for ideal behavior. They are a medium-ish size perhaps just a touch on the small side which can be nice in a mixed flock. So far I would say they are smarter and sweeter then the Embdens I have had and less noisy then the Toulouse I have had. The color sexing is so nice. No wondering if goslings or adults you have are the right gender mix. I would definitely recommend them.

User Comments

Sort Comments By

Are the hens good at keeping things away? Are they loud? I might get a few ducks, and I want a goose to protect them, but I don't have that much room, so i need a quiet goose. I want a female because i want laying ducks.

I bought a few geese (5) and was told that one was nasty. It was a He. He used to attack the previous owner to them and then went the current.
I said I was not worried. He was only young and was protecting his girls. All the other 4 were female. I snapped him out of it very quickly.
Let him come at you, grab his neck and spin him around, slap him on the tail (bottom) and tell him off sending him off with his dignity shattered.
Also you can spread your arms out and go towards him telling him to behave. It shows him that although he is boss of his flock, he is not boss of you.
This has worked for many people. I saw it on TV in an animal show a fair while ago. Try it, it is a game of bluff. Telling him that you are boss.

Neither. He was protective of his mate, me and most of the ducks and later his babies. With the duck he didn't like, he would chase her away trying to biter her when she went into the pen his girl was sitting in. Just like with any animals they make friends and have others they just don't like as much. I just play it on the safe side as I don't want problems. It really will depend on the bird but the Pilgrims are way calmer and sweeter then any others I have had or seen. Even Golden Retrievers dogs have attacked people, its just more unlikely. Pilgrims are geese and will act like geese but like the Golden Retrievers they seem to have a sweeter and more gentle temperament then others breeds of the same species. Like with Golden Retrievers though, I can only say generality's apply. If your wanting a gentle breed of goose then Pilgrims are a great choice. If you want babies then remember that during mating season regardless of the breed problems can appear even with the Pilgrims. If you want geese but you don't care about babies then go for females. They don't seem to have the hormone issues in spring that the boys do.